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| Africa Horn |
| Fighter jet shot down amidst ongoing clashes in Sudan |
| 2023-07-06 |
An army plane was shot down Tuesday in Sudan’s capital Khartoum as clashes characterized by artillery fire targeting several neighborhoods continued. According to sources within the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) the pilots of the plane escaped as the plane plummeted towards the ground and were arrested by the RSF forces as soon as they landed. The RSF has accused the Sudanese army led by Genera; Abdel Fattah al-Burhane of committing "heinous massacres" in Khartoum region in a conflict that has killed nearly 3000 people according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) which also notes that the conflict has displaced over 2.8 million people. Witnesses also reported that the Army also "launched rockets and heavy artillery" at RSF bases in the centre and north of the capital, a witness said. Homes were damaged and civilians were rushed to one of the few hospitals still operational, another added. In Khartoum and the western Darfur region, the fighting mainly affected densely populated neighborhoods. The streets are littered with dead bodies and houses have been targeted by missiles, witnesses said. Trapped by the fighting, civilians have had to ration water, food, electricity and medicine for almost three months. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #1 Reuters, June 27, "Exclusive: Islamists Wield Hidden Hand..." [Another confusing expose] "The army outnumbers the RSF nationally, but analysts say it has little capacity for street fighting because it outsourced previous wars in remote regions to militias. Those militias include the "Janjaweed" that helped crush an insurgency in Darfur and later developed into the RSF. [Curious. No one else claims this. Most see it as intra-ethnic rivalry.] "Nimble RSF units have occupied large areas of Khartoum and this week took control of the main base of the Central Reserve Police, a force that the army had deployed in ground combat in the capital. They seized large amounts of weaponry. But the army, which has depended mainly on air strikes and heavy artillery, could benefit from GIS intelligence gathering skills honed over decades as it tries to root out the RSF. On June 7, fire engulfed the intelligence headquarters in central Khartoum. Both sides accused the other of attacking the building. After Burhan and RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, carried out a coup in 2021 which derailed a transition to democracy, Hemedti said the move was a mistake and warned it would encourage Islamists to seek power. [So Hemedti, an ethnic Zaghawa, heads the RSF -- which Reuters claims is the offspring of the Janjaweed. If that is so, why is he fighting the Army's Islamist leadership which created the Janjaweed?] |
| Posted by: Tarzan Grolump8219 2023-07-06 07:27 |